


Love in Chains

by Secret Staircase (elwing_alcyone)



Category: Zero: Akai Chou | Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly
Genre: Dubious Consent, Emotional Manipulation, F/F, Incest, Sharing a Bed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-12
Updated: 2010-09-12
Packaged: 2017-10-13 00:00:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/130589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elwing_alcyone/pseuds/Secret%20Staircase
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes Mayu wants more than promises to reassure her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Love in Chains

Mio and Mayu share a room at Kei's house, the way they always have, ever since they were children. He is very careful to make sure they are happy; he offered to give them separate bedrooms, but they said they would rather share.

So they have one large room with doubles of everything, perfectly symmetrical, with two well-defined halves. Mio says they should keep to their own beds for tonight. Kei might check on them and think it's strange for two teenage girls to sleep in the same bed; and anyway, they'll have to start sleeping alone... and there she stops, but _one day_ hangs unspoken in the air.

They lie in the dark, in silence, and Mio counts in her head. She reaches three-hundred before the voice comes from across the room, small but insistent.

'Mio.'

She pretends to be asleep at first, but it doesn't stop.

'Mio? Mio. Are you awake? I'm scared.'

'I'm awake,' she says, giving in. 'What's wrong?'

'Come over here.'

It's always that way. Mayu always waits for Mio to come to her, and Mio always does. She slips out of bed and pads across to her sister's bed.

'Get in with me,' Mayu says. 'I'm cold.'

So Mio does, and Mayu snuggles up against her. Mio expects it to start with something about a nightmare, or about the strange room that isn't their home, but Mayu doesn't bother with any of that.

'I don't want you to leave me,' she says simply. 'I want us to be together forever, always together.'

'I know,' says Mio, 'and we will. I promise.'

It's a ritual by now. Often Mayu just wants to hear the words and be reassured, but tonight is going to be different. Mio implied that there would be a day when they wouldn't be together like this, and she has to make amends.

When they were little, it was simpler; making amends was a matter of buying Mayu a present or giving her something she wanted that was Mio's. Mayu is older now, and her desires are different. She uses secrets like chains, binding them closer with things that only the two of them know. She uses shame and guilt and love and duty without differentiation, as if each is as good a foundation for a lifelong relationship as any other.

But Mio still loves her enough to do anything, and so she lets herself be drawn in tighter. This is not something she will ever be entirely free of, and she doesn't know if she wants to be.

She pays her ransom in kisses, and she feels her own body growing warm as Mayu's does. It's like this every time. Even in her uncle's house, knowing he might peer around the door at any time, knowing he might hear the soft sounds Mayu makes, even now she can't stop herself from wanting this, if only at the physical level.

Every time they do this, it becomes more impossible that they'll ever stop. And isn't that the point?

Mio never has to touch herself. She feels Mayu curve like a bow, trembling, and it's always enough. She bites her hand and keeps silent until it's over.

Afterwards Mayu seems content, but Mio knows better than to go back to her bed. That will only start it all over again. It's part of the ritual: they have to sleep side by side. And Mio wants to sleep, and above all, she wants to keep Mayu satisfied, because she doesn't want to do this again in her uncle's house. It seems disrespectful, and then there's the possibility of getting caught. It's horrible to imagine how he'd look, what he'd _say_ , if he discovered what his two innocent nieces did together.

At the very least, they'd be separated. Mio curls her arm more tightly around Mayu's waist at the thought. She might not like doing this, but it's better than losing the only person who understands her. Sometimes she thinks Mayu is the other half of her soul. The truth is, no matter what Mayu thinks, Mio could never leave her.

'I love you,' she says, and kisses Mayu's temple where the sweat is still cooling. 'We'll always be together. I promise.'

She feels the movement of Mayu's skin as she smiles. 'I know. You always think about me, Mio. You always take care of me.'

Always. Such a small word, so light, so soft, but it binds her tighter every time.


End file.
